New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation last week to deliver $9.5 million to the New Jersey Department of Health for family planning services, including Planned Parenthood, in response to President Trump’s implantation of the Title X gag rule.

“The federal government has once again put narrow political interests before the best interests of the American people by implementing the Title X gag rule, which blocks women from access to vital information and resources that are critical to their health,” the governor said.

In August of last year, President Trump introduced new rules for organizations receiving Title X federal funds, which barred them from “providing or referring patients for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency,” according to NPR. As a result, Planned Parenthood pulled out of Title X.

“The Trump Administration’s gag rule pulling funding away from affordable women’s healthcare has put millions of lives at risk in this country, and today, New Jersey is fighting back to provide critical care for women and their families,” said Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver. “The bill that Governor Murphy is signing today will fill the federal voice by replacing critical Title X funding to serve all women in New Jersey, regardless of income, who rely on access to this routine care to survive.”

Governor Murphy has long championed…

Kanye West is dominating the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart once again with his new album “Jesus Is Born.” Released on Christmas Day, the new track of songs currently ranks No. 2 on the chart behind his first gospel album, “Jesus Is King,” according to Faithwire.

“Jesus Is Born” features West’s Sunday Service choir, who also made an appearance on “Jesus Is King.” The choir remade secular songs “Ultralight Beam” and “Weak” and delivered renditions of “Excellent” and “More Than Anything.”

Lyrics to “Ultralight Beam” read:

Faith

His love is yours

We are saved

He is the risen Lord

We are steppin’ out on faith

His love is yours

In the arms of Jesus, saved

He is the risen Lord

We are steppin’ out on faith

His love is yours

We are saved

He is the risen Lord

The song features Chance the Rapper, Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin and The Dream.

This album is the first among many of West’s to deliver on the promised launch date, according to The Guardian.

“Jesus Is Born” falls in line with West’s earlier promise to never again make secular music, as previously reported by Christian Headlines. “Only Gospel from here on out,” the entertainment megastar said.

His wife, Kim Kardashian West, told The View that her husband’s transformation to Christianity has shifted their family.

“Kanye started this to really heal himself and it was a really personal thing, and it was…

The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to uphold a Louisiana pro-life law that requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals, asserting the law is constitutional and benefits women’s safety.

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments March 4 in a case brought by abortion providers against the 2014 law, which requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. It has yet to go into effect. 

The high court struck down a similar Texas law in 2016 in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, but since then, the makeup of the court has changed. 

Pro-choice groups fear the court will overturn that 2016 decision and gut Roe v. Wade. They also say the law will force clinics to close.  

Solicitor General Noel Francisco, representing the Trump administration, argues in a Jan. 2 brief that the abortion clinics lack standing – that is, the legal right – to bring the case. Francisco urges the court to overturn its 2016 decision, if needed.

The Louisiana law is known as Act 620.  

“[T]he Act’s purpose is ‘to improve the health and safety of women undergoing an abortion’ by ensuring that their provider can qualify for hospital-admitting privileges,” the brief says. 

Unless the law is allowed to go into effect, Francisco argues, Louisiana law will favor abortion providers over…

Many former members of the LGBTQ community told their stories of change at Capitol Hill recently.

The group is part of the CHANGED community, an organization of people who previously identified as LGBTQ and believe their sexual identity was changed because of Jesus.

April Lockhart, of New Mexico, told attendees at the event that she wanted to change from her lesbian lifestyle.

“I had fully believed in this lie that gets perpetuated that people don’t change, they can’t change, and if you try to change them, it’s detrimental to their health. And I just want to say that’s a lie,” she asserted.

“Nobody has the right to tell you (that) you can’t be what you want to be. And I did want change.  And through the power of God, the Creator of heaven and earth, this was able to happen. These days were able to happen. These moments. And I’m a happy woman.”

Luis Ruiz, of Florida, said he was devastated when he found out he was HIV positive because of his homosexual lifestyle.

“While I was searching for men, sleeping around a lot, I didn’t realize that there was a man looking for me,” he said.

“And His name is Jesus. I was able to find a church where they loved me. And they taught me that my identity is not my behavior. My identity was not who I thought it was.  But it was a child of God. So I stand here to say that I was a homosexual, a former ‘ho.’  And now I am a child of God.”

CHANGED…

A devastating series of bushfires continue to wreak havoc across vast swathes of Southern Australia. In New South Wales, over half a billion animals have been killed and more than 20 people are confirmed dead, including three firefighters deployed to help tackle the inferno.

Millions of acres have been destroyed by the relentless flames, with many homes being reduced to smoldering ashes. On Monday, despite some much-needed rainfall, there were still 136 fires burning across New South Wales alone. According to the NSW Rural Fire Service, 69 of those remain uncontained.

The smoke and smog generated by the fire is causing concern among public health officials, too. According to CNN, the capital city of Canberra is currently suffering from an arid and toxic atmosphere, logging a rating of 340 on the air quality index. For comparison, Beijing, which is known for its dreadful air quality, is rated at 170.

According to the BBC, in December, cricket players breathing in the air at a Sydney cricket ground said it felt as if they were “smoking 80 cigarettes a day.”

“It’s not healthy,” said bowler Steve O’Keefe. “It’s toxic.”

The smoke in Canberra is so severe that the very agency tasked with dealing with these sorts of crisis situations has been forced to close.

The Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force (ABF) on Sunday ordered staff members to stay home from work…

In the early morning hours Friday, the U.S. engaged in a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport that led to the death of Iran’s top security and intelligence commander.

Leader of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and key player in Tehran’s proxy wars in the Middle East, Major General Qassim Suleimani along with several Iranian backed Iraqi militia officials were killed when an American MQ-9 Reaper drone shot missiles at their convoy as it was leaving the airport, the New York Times reports.

The drone attack – which was authorized by President Trump – was ordered after an American defense contractor on an Iraqi military base was killed last week in a rocket attack. 

CBS News’ national security correspondent David Martin reports that “The attack on the base which killed an American was carried out by an Iranian-backed militia which is directly controlled, according to U.S. intelligence, by Soleimani.”

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Defense Department holds Soleimani responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in the area and was killed because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” The Defense Department also shared that they believed Soleimani was responsible for approving an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq earlier this week.

The…

When Actress Michelle Williams accepted a Golden Globe over the weekend, she used her acceptance speech slot to praise her ability to “employ a woman’s right to choose.”

Williams, who accepted a Golden Globe on Sunday for best actress in a limited series or TV movie for her role in “Fosse/Verdon,” spoke to a teary-eyed crowd about how thankful she was to live in a country where women can have abortions, Fox News reports. 

Holding up her award she said, “When you put this in someone’s hands, you’re acknowledging the choices they make as an actor – moment by moment, scene by scene, day by day. But you’re also acknowledging the choices they make as a person – the education they pursued, the training they sought, the hours they put in.”

She continued, “I’m grateful for the acknowledgment of the choices I’ve made, and I’m also grateful to have lived at a moment in our society where choice exists, because, as women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice.

“I’ve tried my very best to live a life of my own making … and I wouldn’t have been able to do this without employing a woman’s right to choose,” Williams said as the crowd erupted with applause.

Williams went on to share that she was thankful for the ability to choose when and with whom to have her children. 

“I know my choices may look…